Biomarkers are objective measures or indicators which are used to evaluate disease versus normal biological processes or responses to a drug or treatment. Many different biomarker types are utilized for various purposes in the pharmaceutical process. Biomarker types and applications thereof are broadly used in the clinical and healthcare spectrum, for example biomarkers for risk assessment, permit the estimation of the risk of an individual to develop a particular disease. Other types of biomarkers include: biomarkers for earlier and more specific indication of a compound's toxicity; biomarkers for prognosis (providing information about the expected course of a disease); biomarkers for patient stratification (allowing to identify the best treatment for a disease); and, biomarkers for therapy monitoring (providing information at an early stage as to whether treatment is working or if the disease is getting worse).
Biosensing strategies using magnetic nanoparticles have been reported in the relevant art. These publications describe magnetic resonance-related techniques based on T2-relaxation time measurements. For example, US application No. 2011/0091987A1 and a recently published scientific article (Huilin Shao et al., Theranostics 2012) describe NMR-based detection mechanism for diagnostic applications. In order to increase the sensitivity of the detection, magnetic nanoparticles have been used that are specifically designed and shown to improve T2* changes. These particles consist of ferrite particles or crossed linked iron oxide.
Thus, there is still a long felt need to provide sensitive and reliable means and methods for the identification and quantification of a biomarker of interest for diagnostic applications.